Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-04-14

never been divorced, / declare to YOU
tonight that would rather 60 into
the campaign of 1888 with an open,
manly avawal OF my political convic.
tiOns; would rather make an honest
earnest effort 10 break the fetters OF
trade aud fail, with the white flag OF
commercial freedom floating from the
Democratic masthead, than to ride in
to power on gilded lie or under cow
ardly mask. / want the future of the
Democratic party to be worthy Of its
splendid traditions In no other politi-
cal organization in all the range of all
the years can such a record of splendid
achievements he found.
1t was by the wisdom and forecast of
Democratic administration that this
great territory of the Northwest,
Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas
and Nebraska, was rescued from the
empire of the first Napoleon and the
Mississippi River dedicated forever as
a free highway for the commerce of its
great valley. 1t was under Democratic
administration that the infamous Afri-
can slave trade was declared crime
and prohibited by law; it was under
Democratic administration that the
second war with Great Britain was
fought, and the rights of American
commerce-the protection of Ameri-
can seamen-established on a basis of
national. dignity and honor that for
three generations no power on earth
has dared to question. When nullifi-
cation lifted its hydra head in South
Carolina and threatened the disruption
of this Government the old hero of
New Orleans-the Democratic patron
saint, at the head of a Democratic ad-
ministration-enriched the literature
of patriotism with the lofty sentiments:
"By the Eternal, the Federal Union
must and shall be preserved"
Under Democratic Administration
the great empire of Texas was made
American soil, and its lone star flashed
upon the flag of the Union. When
this country was engaged in a fierce
struggle on its own soil with a foreign
foe, and men, who afterward became
shining lights in the Republican party,
were encouraging MeXicans "to well
come Americans with bloody hands to
hOspitable graves,n under Democratic
administration the national honor was
sustained, the invaders driven from our
soil, our army moved like the sweep OF
destiny from the Rio Grande to the city
of Mexico, and the triumphant Ameri-
can flag kissed the sky from the halls OF
MOnteZuma.
Under Democratic administration
Ourboys came marching home from
the fields of Mexico, not simply crown
ed with the most brilliant achieve.
ments of modern warfare, not only
with their victorious eagles flying and
the splendor of their sOldierly bearing
dazzling the world, but bringing as the
royal trophies of their heroic daring the
gold-ribbed mountains of the West,
the treasure houses of the Almighty,
from whence we gathered the supply OF
gold and silver that made resumption
of specie payment possible and gilds
with hope our ultimate release from
the great burden of debt for which your
home and mine, your labor and mine,
the muscle and brain of your children
and mine, were mortgaged to the
moneyed aristocracy of the world.
but repeat the incontestable history
of the country in the declaration that
every right and dignity secured to the
Government of the United States by
force of arms, from the Revolution to
the rebellion; every foot of soil added to
our territory from the surrender OF
CORVALLIS to the purchase of the God
foasaken peaks of Alaska, were effected
under Democratic administration
And while l would not for my right
hand withhold the need of praise or
the gratitude of my heart from any
who battled for the eternal oneness of
the American nation, Iwant my party
to have it's place on the muster-roll of
that splendid, patriotic endeavor. The
record shows that in the dark hours of
1861, when wars hot breath, like q
blast from hell, startled the whole ma
ton, the leader par excellence of the
Democratic pary-the immortal Doug
las-was the first, the very first, to
sound the alarm, and warn his country
men, from the seaboard to the great
river, "that the directest road to peace
lies in the most stupendOus preparation
for war" The records shows that hun
dreds of thousands of Democrats, un-
der the inspiration of that patriotism
which | believe is inherent in the
masses of all parties, sprang to the de-
fense of their imperiled country, and in
the morass and on the mountain, by
land and by sea, in burning sun and
drenching storm, with their lives in
their hands, through all the rain of
shot and shell, kept steady pace with
the music of the Union. The record
shows that n majority of the command
ing Generals who won distinction in
the war of the Rebellion, not the
''plumed knight" but the starred
knights whose genius conceived the
plans of battle, whose valor led the in
treprid hosts through lurid flames of
death, who scaled the ramparts of the
enemy, drove lurking treason from it's
last hiding-place, tloated the flag of the
Union from the dome of the Confeder-
ate Capitol, and sent the fame of the
intrepid, fearless, peerless "boys in
blue" ringing round the world, We're
Democrats. Grand old party of our
fathers! Born amid the throes and
agonies of revolution, its infancy was
rocked in the cradle of American free
dom. For more than sixty years it adj
the affairs and developed
the resources of the country of its love-
It's genius measured the possibilities of
freemen and its wisdom lifted the ma
ton from one degree of excellence to
another, from one plane of glory to an
other, until the object of it's care and
devotion stood forth the most splendid
fabric of Government in all the shining
circuit of the sum- At all times and
under all circumstances, in prosperity
and in adversely, amid dangers without
and connections within, in peace and
in war, the Democratic party has stood